Candelario (left knee) 'better than anticipated'

CINCINNATI -- Cubs manager Joe Maddon said Jeimer Candelario was "better than anticipated" after taking a 99-mph fastball off the inside of his left knee in the ninth inning on Thursday. X-rays taken after the game were negative, but Candelario needed some assistance walking. On Friday, he felt much better.
"When I got hit yesterday, in my mind, I said, 'Something's gone wrong,'" Candelario said. "Thank God, nothing is fractured."
Candelario was going to ride a stationary bike and hit off a batting tee on Friday. It was a tough break for Candelario, who knocked his first Major League home run in the game.
"When I hit the homer, it was fantastic, but when I got hit -- I didn't really think about [the home run]," Candelario said.

Candelario has been hit by a pitch before but never in that spot. Candelario did stay in the game, but he was forced out at second on a fielder's choice.
"I realized it was hurting a lot when I ran to second, then I sat down [in the dugout] and I couldn't move," Candelario said. "I just have to work it out and get better."
Worth noting
• Ben Zobrist, who has been sidelined with a sore left wrist, started in left field for Double-A Tennessee on Friday in his second rehab game. On Thursday, he went 2-for-3 with a walk and a run in Tennessee's 9-4 win over Jackson.
"The word is he felt good and he's getting real close," Maddon said. "Talking to Zo, you have to have your own 'Zobrist-saurus.' I think he's close from what I'm hearing in the conversations."
• Pedro Strop was upset to hear that the Nationals' Trea Turner sustained a fractured right wrist after he was hit by a pitch by the Cubs' reliever on Thursday.
"I was really surprised," Strop said on Friday. "[Anthony] Rizzo told me on the bus [after the game]. That's how I found out -- broken wrist. I was like, 'What?' I feel so bad. I don't know how to describe how bad I felt when I found out it was a broken wrist.
"The kid is such a hustling player, and I was just trying to go sinker in, and he was trying to swing, and I thought it got a little bit of the bat, so that's why I didn't think it was that bad. He stayed in the game. Then, all of a sudden, I hear broken wrist. I didn't feel good when I heard that."

• Kyle Hendricks, on the disabled list with inflammation in his right hand, played catch from about 120 feet on Friday. The goal is to continue to make progress so he can throw off the mound either Tuesday or Wednesday when the Cubs are back at Wrigley Field. The right-hander will not be back before the All-Star break.
• Kyle Schwarber is continuing to get at-bats with Triple-A Iowa, and there is no timetable for his return. The Cubs sent him to the Minors after batting .171 in the Majors, and he started playing there on Monday.
"All I know is the first couple games, he hit the ball well, hit the ball hard," Maddon said. "There's still a couple strikeouts, but that's not going away. For that group who is expecting him to stop striking out by going to the Minor Leagues, that's inappropriate thinking. He's hitting well, he's feeling better. I haven't seen anything more specific than that. He'll be back, and we'll eventually get the band back together."
• Home runs are being hit at a record-setting pace in June in the Major Leagues. Maddon has a theory.
"Global warming," Maddon said. "The warmer it is, the farther the baseball is going to travel."